Sunday, March 30, 2014

My camera is out of batteries so I am cheating and using last weeks pic. I was 18 weeks in it anyway so it works.

How far along: 18 weeks (3/25/14)

Size of baby: 5 1/2 inches and almost 7 ounces. About the size of a bell pepper. He actually weighed in at 8oz so I guess he's on the bigger side

Feeling: I had a really good week. No headaches and had a decent amount of energy. I think I was just anxious for the end of the week to see what the baby's gender was.

Weight gain: I have been way off. I was guessing 5-8lb weight gain and I weighed in at almost 3 lbs more then I started at. Doctor wants me to have gained 2+ lbs by my next appointment. She said the same thing when I was pregnant with Collins so I guess I'm just slow at gaining weight in the beginning. It will be coming, no doubt about that.

Gender: BOY!! I was somewhat shocked but not entirely. He was showing off his goods like crazy so we are 100% sure it's a boy. No name yet but we have a decent list going.

Cravings: Same old same old. Fruit and sub sandwiches get me every time. I got our first watermelon of the season today and it was delicious!

Best moment this week: Finding out the gender and shopping for the little guy. Boys aren't quite as fun as girls but I had no problem finding him some cute things. So different to buy for a summer baby after having a winter baby.

Movement: Oh yes. Much more noticeable now and he showed us all his moves at the sonogram. He liked having his hand up by his face and at one point, had a foot up by his head as well. He looked completely healthy and we couldn't be more thankful.

Sleep: Not the greatest. Just can't get comfortable and have had to use the restroom usually twice a night.

Maternity clothes: Here and there. I was able to wear non maternity jeans this week but wear maternity ones as well. Same with shirts. I have officially busted the maternity Tupperware back out.

Milestones: Blood vessels are visible through thin skin and his ears are in their final position.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

It's been a long time since I shared a day in our life. I stopped working in December so it's just me and C bug during the week. We try and get out every day or we both go crazy. Between story times, play dates, the store, etc. we always find something to do. Derek travels off and on but he is home this week.

3/25/14

1:33am- I'm 18 weeks pregnant and wake up for the second time to use the restroom. 2 times before 2am is just ridiculous.

7:23am- I jump awake to the sound of "dada! dada!" I'm guessing she's been up for a bit because she plays quietly before shouting out to us. I slowly get out of bed, use the restroom and brush my teeth before going to get her. Derek gets up to and lets the dogs out while I change her diaper. We all head downstairs while she drinks her sippy of milk and watches Mickey.

7:50am- She runs to the stairs and signs "eat." I fill up a cup of water for me and make her oatmeal, mandarin oranges and water while Derek unloads the dishwasher and then goes to shower. He's working in KC today so he doesn't have to leave very early. I take the opportunity to shower after him so he can entertain Collins.

8:30am- He leaves for work after I shower and I let Collins play in her bean box so I can finish getting ready. We keep some toys in our room to entertain her but the bean box was a special treat this day. She plays with it until she sees me get my make up bag out and then she demands to sit on the counter and "help" me with my make up.

9:10am- I grab a granola bar and water for myself and then we head downstairs to play.

9:40am- Diaper change, get her dress, coats and shoes on and out the door for an indoor swing set place. Kansas hasn't got the Spring memo yet so we have to entertain ourselves indoors since it's only in the 40s. She eats some goldfish in the car.

10am-10:40am- We don't last very long before Collins gets cranky. I didn't think it would be crowded because Spring break was last week but it was super crowded and she wasn't happy when her turn was over on the trampoline.

11:00am- We are going through a very picky stage so I try to make a healthier version of one of her favorite foods. Pizza on whole wheat English muffin, grapes, corn and water. I change her diaper while the pizza cooks.

11:20am-She eats the grapes, no corn and a couple bites of pizza but doesn't like it. I eat it myself along with grapes and my 1 diet coke a day I allow myself to have. I give in and melt some cheese in a tortilla for her. She ate the whole thing. Clean up lunch and load dishes and then head downstairs to play.

12:15pm- Derek comes home for lunch so we sit in the kitchen with him while he eats. I start a load of her laundry and restart the dryer that has had clothes sitting in it for 2 days now. Derek rocks and does our laundry on Sundays and "forgot" about the clothes in the dryer.

12:35pm- Put Collins down for a nap and she is out in about 5 min. Derek heads back to work and I use nap time to catch up on facebook, instagram, email, etc. Pregnancy is still making me pretty tired so I take a 20 min nap and then fold the clothes in the dryer and put Collins clothes in the dryer.

3:05pm- Collins wakes up. She usually sleeps 1.5-2 hours so this was an abnormally long nap. I change her diaper and get her a snack. She eats some homemade applesauce and a maybe a bite of graham crackers. She isn't a big fan of vegetables so I made applesauce over the weekend with apples, carrots and bananas. She loves it. Win for me! Back downstairs to play.

3:40pm- Upstairs for a #2 diaper change. Back downstairs to play and work on animal sounds. Daddy gets home about 4:15pm and he joins us in the playroom.

5:00pm- Head upstairs to start making meatballs for dinner. 4-6pm is usually her cranky time. Has been since she was a newborn. She always wants to be in the kitchen helping with dinner so we turn on the music and dance to try and keep her happy. It doesn't last long so Derek and her play on the ipad while I get the meatballs in the oven and her some noodles cooking. She's still not happy so Derek gives her a couple animal crackers.

5:45pm- Meatball sandwiches and chips for me and Derek and noodles with meatball and marinara, peas and carrots and pears for her. She eats all her fruit and vegetables (except the carrots) but won't touch the pasta. I hate making her a 2nd meal but she's already on the little side so I don't want her to starve. I melt some cheese and butter into the noddles I made and she eats all of it.

6:10pm- Play downstairs

7:00pm- Daddy's turn on bath night (we do every other night) and I fold her laundry and clean up the play room. After she's in her pajamas he brings her downstairs with her sippy of milk and we turn on Finding Nemo while she drinks it.

7:40pm- Whoever doesn't have bath night does book, brush and bed. We read If you give a mouse a cookie and brush her teeth. Sound machine on, lights out and lots of newly learned eskimo kisses and giggles. She gives me a real kiss and into her bed she goes. She's really been cuddling with her aden and anais blankets lately so I give her one and she finds her binky (I know, weaning is happening soon). Don't hear a peep from her and she's out in less then 10 min.

7:45pm-9pm- Me and Derek watch TV downstairs and I work on a blog post. We don't have a ton of shows we regularly watch but The Voice is on and it's one we both like.

9pm- I'm an old lady and head up to bed. I watch Teen Mom and surf the Internet on my phone. Derek usually comes up and steals the TV about 9:30pm and it's TV off and sleep time at 10pm.

There you have it! I'm all ears if anyone has recommendations on what to do with a picky eater. There will be a 2nd baby the next time I do one of these so I'm sure things will look a lot different.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Size of baby: 5 inches from head to butt and 5 ounces. About the size of an onion.

Feeling: Couple cramp growing pains but that's expected this time in pregnancy. Baby growing=everything in my belly being stretched. Still having some headaches here and there but not compared to last week.

Weight gain: Excited to get an accurate answer at my appt this week but I am guessing around 5-8 lbs.

Gender: 3 more days!!! Everything points to girl but my instinct is saying boy. I did a couple old wives tale tests a couple posts back so check those out.

Cravings: Fruit and sub sandwiches still. Oranges are my choice of fruit this week. I never buy them because I despise peeling them but I'm eating them like crazy right now. I could really go for one right now...

Best moment this week: Anytime I show Collins my belly and tell her a baby is in there, she gives it a kiss. We cleaned out the storage room and I got super excited seeing the baby swing, car seat, etc. Now I want to know what gender to start buying clothes for!!

Movement: Quite a bit more this week. Still nothing strong enough to catch me off guard but felt it a couple times when laying down.

Sleep: Well it's no longer comfortable to sleep on my stomach. I don't mind sleeping on my sides but sometimes it's nice to have another option. I often times wake up and catch myself sleeping on my back. So comfortable but not ok anymore in pregnancy. So switching back and forth between my 2 sides is all I got. And 1-2 bathroom trips.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

16 months. I'm gonna have to keep popping out babies if they keep growing this fast.

I took her in last week for her fevers and she weighed 20 lbs 9oz. I'm guessing shortie hasn't grown much from her 15 month visit. Wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoe and size 4 diaper. She has 7 teeth and more on the way. Doctor said her molars were pretty swollen so their probably going to be coming in soon. Let's just hope they don't mess up her sleeping.

She's been a pretty great sleeper and sleeps from 7:30pm-7:30am and naps from 12:30-2:30. Let me just tell you how excited I am to go back to sleepless nights with a newborn. Insert sarcasm.

Boy has the eating changed since last month. We have a picky eater on our hands now. She'd prefer to be a vegetarian but I can usually convince her to eat chicken nuggets, fish sticks and sometimes turkey dogs. All the food I craved when I was pregnant with her? Yep, she'd live off that stuff. Sugary breakfast foods, mac and cheese, sweets and fruit. Peas, corn and canned carrots are the only vegetables. Not steamed carrots, just the gross canned ones. She eats a daily squeeze pouch to sneak in more vegetables into her diet.

Always patting a chair or floor to have us sit by her. Girlfriend needs a sibling because she doesn't play so well independently. She adores other kids (mostly older ones) and will wave to just about anybody. But mama better not leave or she cries. She cries when we leave her at church and when I leave her for MOPS but is always happily playing when we go to pick her up. They say she doesn't cry very long and then she's happy as can be. She just likes to make it difficult on me. We both might have cried once at church. I blame the hormones.

She's been jabbering a lot more and has added a couple words to her vocabulary. She makes things 2 syllables when they don't need to be. Up is "ugh up." She learned papa and huh as well this month. We constantly encourage her to use her words but she's just not having it quite yet. She's got her body parts and animal sounds down and we are working on colors and shapes.

Still obsessed with baby dolls. No matter where we go, she will find a baby doll to play with. She tries putting diapers on them, feeding them bottles and carries them on her shoulder while patting their back. Other then having to share mommy, I think she is going to be a great big sister.

She can take off her shirt if you get her arms out of the sleeve and she tries really hard to put her clothes, socks and shoes on. She puts her dirty clothes in the hamper (and mommy and daddy's if their lying on the floor) and loves helping with laundry. Putting the clothes in the washer and drying and unfolding the folded laundry. Such a big helper.

Collins, you are sweet with a side of sass. Always willing to give a kiss and rest your head on our shoulders but you want what you want and don't like being told differently. You have your dads attitude. HA!! We absolutely adore you and love you to pieces.

Friday, March 21, 2014

1 week from today, we will find out what baby #2 is. I'm clueless this time around so I did some gender prediction tests like I did with Collins. The intelligender test didn't give a clear result last time so i didn't spend the money on it this time around.

Based on old wives tales, here is what we are having:

Chinese calendar- girl (wrong with Collins)

Craving fruit- girl (correct with Collins)

Heartbeat- girl (correct with Collins)

Dreams- have had boy and girl dreams

Moms instinct- I really have no clue. This pregnancy is a lot like Collins' and their heartbeats have been almost identical so I wanna say girl but still kind of feel like it's a boy.

Breakouts- girl (wrong with Collins)

Pencil test- boy. It did circles first for Collins and then slowed down and went back and forth for boy (correct with Collins)

Wedding ring test- girl (didn't do with Collins)

Pink is favored according to these tests but I'm still not convinced. With Collins, I REALLY wanted a girl. But this time, I can honestly say I will be happy either way. We haven't had a boy on either side of the family for at least 5 years so a boy would be nice. And I've surprisingly been wanting to buy baby boy clothes and have a mama's boy. Buuuut, Collins and this baby will be 21 months apart so how cute would 2 girls be? Dressing them the same, a close sister bond that I treasure with my sisters and of course, bows!!!! Feel free to share your predictions!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

With her fevers gone, we were able to go to Manhattan last weekend. We rarely get back there anymore so I was super excited to go and praying she would feel better so we could! Daddy had a boys weekend at home as well as all the other daddies but my sisters, kids and nana had a fun filled weekend planned at papa's.

We left Friday when Amber got off work, grabbed a quick dinner and were on our way.

Amy had to shoot pictures Saturday morning so they didn't make it Friday night. The kids played with papa and we figured out our plans for the next day before heading to bed.

Aiden had a 7:45am hair cut, him and Amber see EARLY birds so I set my alarm, woke up Collins and we all headed to his hair appt. which was around the corner from a very yummy donut shop.

I forced Collins into a morning nap while I got ready and then had to wake her again so we could meet Amy and the kids for lunch before the parade.

The kids did great (except for Collins who just wanted to chase after the dogs and the horses that were in the parade) but we were sweating and convinced them to leave after 30 min by bribing them with ice cream.

We ended the afternoon and evening by playing on papa's deck, eating Willies (duh) and visiting with some friends before calling it a day.

We stuck around till Sunday afternoon and these 2 were asleep before we got on the interstate. Such a fun weekend back home. Makes me want to move back :)

And on actual St. Pattys day, we hosted a little play date with some friends. Unfortunately some of them were sick but always a good time catching up wigh Ashley and letting Collins play with Elsie and Ryann.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Size of baby:4 1/2 in. long from head to butt and 3 1/2 ounces. About the size of an avocado.

Feeling: Still having almost daily headaches. Hate waking up with a headache but it goes away pretty quickly with Tylenol. Collins keeps me on my toes so I usually take at least a 15 min. nap when she does.

Weight gain: Let's go with 6 pounds. I'm gonna laugh when I go in next week and I am way off on my weight gain predictions.

Gender: That's the 1 million dollar question. I'm leaning a little more towards boy but wouldn't be completely surprised if it's a girl either. I'm gonna work on a gender post that tells what it is according to old wives tales. 10 days till we have an answer!

Best moment this week: Me and Collins were laying in my bed one morning and while she was sitting down on my pelvic bone, I lifted my shirt and told her there was a baby in my belly. I told her to give it a kiss and she did!

Movement: Not much but the stinker is definitely moving a ton. Every time I try to listen to it's heart beat, I have a hard time finding it because it's moving around so much.

Sleep: Decent. Early last week was a little tough with Daylight Savings and Collins adjusting to it but we are back on our schedule and I usually only have to pee 1 time.

Maternity clothes: I've worn a couple maternity shirts and still the bella band over my jeans but I think it's time to bust out the maternity jeans. I can't even zip my jeans anymore so it's time.

Milestones: Legs are more developed and the head is more erect. Eyes have moved closer to the front of the head and it's ears are close to their final position. Major growth spurt about to happen.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

We've been battling fevers off and on over here. They started 2 weeks ago when she had a low grade fever (99-100) for 3 days.

Well Tuesday she woke up from nap and it was 102.6. They say anything over 100 isn't from teething so I took her in. They were concerned since she had so many fevers recently and agreed it wouldn't be from teeth (not Tuesdays anyway). Her ears and throat looked good and when she asked if her urine had been strong I remembered that it had been! 5 min later and chugging of water, 2 nurses came in to put a catheter in her and check her urine. They said it wasn't painful but she would probably cry from the pressure of it and being held down. Yep, she was pissed! They quickly got what they needed and left the room for her to snuggle with me. The results came back quickly and all looked good. They'll still send it in and we'll have better results Friday. So everything was ruled out and it must just be a viral thing. She still had 100+ fever yesterday but we are fever free today! If it comes back today or tomorrow, we have to go back in for lab work. So happy my baby is feeling better today and praying the sickies stay away. She's had a cold for 2 weeks now so she needs a break. I assume the worst when they say they want to do lab work so I've been stressing out. Hopefully this warm weather and a trip to Manhattan will be good for us all!

I should have known when I had to rock her to sleep she would wake up with a fever

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Size of baby:4 inches from head to butt and 2 1/2 oz. About the size of an apple.

Feeling: Quite a few headaches this week. They go away with Tylenol but when the medicine wears off, the headache comes back. All I want to do when I have a headache is sleep so there wasn't a whole lot of energy this week.

Weight gain: roughly 5lbs. There is definitely a belly nowadays and it showed up way quicker then it did the first time around. Just hoping I can stay under the 30lb weight gain mark. And that it comes off easily like it did with Collins. Wishful thinking.

Gender: Leaning more towards boy this week. The free sonogram place we went to at 6 weeks called and said they'd love to get another look at the baby but I can't convince Derek. I'm dying to know the gender and although they said they won't straight up tell us what it is at this place, they'll tell us what they look for. Um duh! Ain't nobody gonna miss a penis between the legs. Derek wants to wait till our sono at the end of the month so for know, March 28 is the big gender day.

Cravings: fooood! Something always sounds amazing. Soft pretzel (Targets are gross), ice cream, ravioli, etc. Not crazy into sweets like I was with Collins so let's hope I pass the glucose test. I have to force myself to eat breakfast most days and I'm totally slacking on the water intake. Between being pregnant and breastfeeding, I'm so sick of water.

Best moment this week: My belly has definitely popped this week. Which is good and bad. Bad cause it seems early but good cause the baby is growing and hopefully healthy. I listened to the heart beat one day (150s) and had Collins listen too. She had no clue what it was but I told her there was a baby in there and she look confused and then pointed to her belly. Not for many many years girlfriend.

Movement: A little 1 day. Can't wait till their stronger and more noticeable.

Sleep: There was 1 night I went all night without using the restroom!! Usually it's around midnight though. And I'm already annoyed with my pregnancy pillow. I love it but man it makes switching sides in the middle of the night a pain!

Maternity clothes: With the belly as a mentioned above comes maternity clothes. I've worn the bellaband a few times over my jeans and have worn 2 maternity shirts. Their still big but their long sleeve so I want to get some wear out of them before it gets too warm out. And let's face it, my shirts are getting tight.

Milestones: Eyelids are still shut but it can sense light and even though there isn't much to taste, taste buds are forming.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Weight gain: let's go with 3 lbs. I forgot to ask what my initial weight was at my appt. last week and their scale and my scale are about 4lbs off. My scale says I only gained 1 lb but there is no way.

Gender: Gut says girl and it's always a girl in my dreams but I keep calling it a he.

Cravings: I bought laffy taffy and jolly ranchers at the store. Random but oh so good. Ate 3 pickles this week and wanted more. I almost busted the glass jar open when I couldn't get it open.

Best moment this week: Listening to the heart beat at my appt (156 bpm). I was freaking out cause it took her the longest ever to find it. And then she finally found it and could hardly get a good reading cause it's back must have been facing us and it was moving around like crazy. Stubborn much?

Movement: Not this week but we definitely heard all the movement on the Doppler. I am going to try and focus more each day on feeling it. Their such little movements that they don't catch me off guard, yet.

Sleep: 1 middle of the night bathroom trip each night and I officially busted out the pregnancy pillow.

Maternity clothes: nope. This nasty cold weather has me living in comfy pants and sweatshirts daily.